


A Very Serenity Christmas

by little_spooks



Category: Firefly
Genre: Christmas AU, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Plot What Plot, platonic femslash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_spooks/pseuds/little_spooks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles about Christmas on Serenity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very Serenity Christmas

_Thump._

Zoe kept her eyes shut, willing her mind to ignore the sounds of cabin doors sliding open. Specifically, Kaylee’s cabin door. 

The trip to Beaumonde was stressful—an accident while they were unloading their cargo revealed the large amounts of stolen liquor they were shipping and prompted what Mal called ‘an altercation’. Their client was less than pleased with the unwanted publicity of his delivery and they left in a hurry with only half their pay.

Life was never a straightforward thing. 

This, however, was supposed to be. A _holiday_. The first holiday in quite some time, courtesy of one of the captain’s less shady clients and his connections on Beylix. Combined with Inara pulling a few strings and getting the lot of them invited to a Christmas ball, it was set to be a real shiny Christmas. 

And Zoe did not appreciate her holiday slumber disturbed at such an obscene hour of the morning.

Well. It was technically half past nine, but Wash had already woken her with his racket at six as he left with Mal, Jayne, Simon, and the preacher for some “boy’s time”. 

And Kaylee _knew_ she had one single request for the holiday: Do Not Wake Zoe Unless The Ship is Crashing, Chaos is Descending, Or Jayne is Trying to Kill Wash. The instructions were abundantly clear. Sleeping in was not a luxury Zoe indulged in often, and she was firmly set in indulging it as much as possible this week. 

_Thud thud thud thud._

The sound of boots tromping was getting closer. Zoe scrunched her eyes shut tighter and burrowed under her blankets as Kaylee burst into the room. 

“IT’S CHRISTMAS! IT’S CHRISTMAS AND IT’S SNOWING!”

“We’re on an ice planet, dear. That’s not unusual.”

Kaylee jumped into bed with Zoe, bouncing excitedly. “A holiday is unusual! A real bonafide holiday, Zoe, tree and all. And lights! Have you seen the lights? And the tinsel—I’ve got the engine room done up real shiny, once I got the captain to convince Jayne that it’s not a fire hazard if nothing actually touches the engine—“

“I beg pardon?”

“Didn’t you see? Mal brought us a tree this morning! Hauled it in first thing, before they left. And it’s a real one!”

Zoe slumped deeper into her pillows. “That sounds lovely. I’ll see it later, when I’m _awake._ ”

Kaylee brushed off the hint. “We have to decorate it ‘fore the boys get back!”

She snatched the covers down from Zoe’s face, where she was holding them firmly in the hopes of Kaylee giving up. Zoe yanked them back up, then pulled them back down abruptly, sniffing.

“What is _that_?” A thick, burned smell permeated the room. 

Kaylee’s eyes widened as she leapt off the bed. “Oh no—River—“ 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

River was standing in front of the stove, her hands covered in sticky, melted marshmallow. Inara stood next to her with a fire extinguisher, looking regretfully at the charred marshmallows now combined with puffy white extinguisher foam. 

“The flames were pretty,” River said. She wiggled her fingers, frowning. The marshmallow had cooled and formed a thick glue on her hands. She stuck her fingers together experimentally, pleased with the smacking sound they made when pulled apart.

“We were going to make s’mores,” Kaylee said apologetically, scooping the mess into the trash. Inara plucked bits of the foam off her embroidered robe.

“You’re washing up,” she said firmly, guiding River to the sink. River insisted on smacking her fingers a few more times before thrusting her hands under the tap. 

“There’s fresh coffee,” Inara said over her shoulder, resisting River’s attempts to prevent soap from touching her hands.

“Better be,” Zoe said in mock annoyance, pointing a stern finger at Kaylee. “I need it after this one here stormed my chambers.”

Kaylee was unabashed. “It ain’t often we get a day with just us. The boys won’t be back for a good bit.”

“You can say that again,” Zoe looked out the window. Thick snowfall had almost obscured the horizon. The dark silhouette of the tree line was whipping around violently.

By half past eleven, it was clear that the boys would not be returning anytime soon. The blizzard had escalated to whiteout conditions, and ice had sealed the cargo openings shut. Wash radioed in that they were indeed stranded, and were currently enjoying some top notch drinks courtesy of Mal’s connection. Zoe could hear Jayne aggressively singing Christmas carols in the background, and was internally grateful to be stranded in a separate location. 

“I think Simon will be in for quite a night,” Inara said, pulling out boxes of decorations and stacking them neatly. 

Kaylee looked alarmed. “You don’t think anything bad will happen…?” 

“I wouldn’t count on anything _good_ happening when Jayne’s drunk, but the captain’ll keep it from getting out of hand,” Inara said reassuringly. “Now, I think Zoe’s awake enough to commence the decorating. Zoe?”

Zoe was barely visible under her pile of blankets. She gestured absently at the box of decorations, clinging to her coffee mug. “I’ll supervise. This is an excellent vantage point.”

Two hours later, _Serenity_ was fully bedecked in holiday splendor. Kaylee and Inara strung lights throughout the corridors and around doors. There were glowing lanterns draped throughout the kitchen and glittering tinsel in the engine room. Inara pinned up a countdown calendar on the door to Simon’s infirmary (since Christmas decorations would not be considered ‘sterile’ and would probably be banished from inside). A tiny nativity scene joined the dinosaurs on Wash’s dash. Shiny baubles dangled from the ceiling. River and Kaylee spent the better part of an hour cutting out paper snowflakes and hanging an excessive amount in Jayne’s bunk. 

Mal’s Christmas tree was resplendent. Or half of it was, at least. The tree had evidently undergone some mishap that resulted in a very straggly, pathetic backside. Zoe and Inara maneuvered it into a corner of the main room, strategically hiding its flaws. Kaylee did a fancy bit of paper folding and created a five pointed star to place on the top. 

“There,” she said proudly, hands on hips. “That’s real shiny, dontcha reckon?”

“Not a finer tree in the whole verse.” Zoe declared.


End file.
